Large pieces of equipment or modules of equipment located at plants or other locations are often enclosed in structures for various reasons, including protecting the equipment from the outside environment, including heat, cold, dust, humidity, and precipitation; providing acoustical attenuation of noise generated by the equipment; and to protect individuals and other machinery in the vicinity of the equipment in the case of an equipment malfunction. Currently, there are two types of enclosures that are generally used. The first type of enclosure is an on-base enclosure, where walls of the enclosure are attached to the base holding the equipment in place. Another type of enclosure is an off-base enclosure, where walls of the enclosure are supported by a separate or independent support structure, other than the base holding the equipment, such as a foundation.
Both on-base enclosures and off-base enclosures have advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of the on-base enclosure are that enclosures can be easily constructed by attaching walls to the base of the machine, which results in enclosures that can be rapidly built. Disadvantages of on-base enclosures include there is little room around the perimeter of the equipment to maneuver around the equipment for inspection or to access the equipment, for example for maintenance. To combat this problem, on-base enclosures have been provided with a series of removable or movable panels that are necessary to remove or open for inspection or maintenance. This adds considerable time to open or remove these panels for inspection or maintenance. Also, these panels, due to their removable or movable nature, generally do not provide sufficient acoustical attenuation of sound generated by the equipment.
Off-base enclosures are often built a distance away from the perimeter of the machine to provide for greater room around the perimeter of the machine. However, off-base enclosures typically need a separate foundation to support the walls and roof of the enclosure. This results in increased installation time, the need to build an additional foundation and, in the case of fire extinguishing agent, a larger amount is generally needed for an off-base enclosure. Further, off-base enclosures are often built with more space than necessary around the equipment.
There is a need in the art to provide an enclosure for equipment that has the ease of building of an on-base enclosure, with increased space provided by an off-base enclosure.